Browse Items (215 total)

Long associated with coal mining, southwest Virginia has an impressive list of other industries including farming, salt production, timber, and the mining of lead, copper, gypsum, and iron. These industries helped the region become known as the…

After the Civil War and the enfranchisement of Black men, political contests in Virginia were often heated. In 1879, a biracial coalition known as the Readjuster Party won control of the General Assembly and two years later won the governor’s race,…

In rural communities across the state, local stores were often the centers of commerce and provided gathering places for local residents. In the 19th century stores, such as the Pocahontas Colliery Store in Tazewell County, were frequently found in…

Historically, coal has been one of Virginia’s most valuable natural resources. The first coal mines were developed after coal deposits were discovered early in the 1700s west of the falls of the James River in the area that is now Midlothian, in…

Salem, Virginia, is an independent city within the boundaries of Roanoke County. The first known European exploration of the area occurred in 1671. Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam gave the area its first recorded name: Totero Town, after the local…

The end of the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in 1865 led to important changes in American politics, especially in the former slave states. The most dramatic were changes to state constitutions and the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment…

Black Americans understood the meaning of citizenship and the possibilities afforded by the prospect of emancipation long before the end of the Civil War. Among their demands for equality was the right to participate in the political process as…

The American Civil War was fought between 1861 and 1865. The war began after eleven southern states, including Virginia, seceded from the United States in the months after Abraham Lincoln was elected president in November 1860. After four years of…

Prior to the Civil War, Virginia did not have a comprehensive public school system. Some localities provided some "free schools" or "charity schools" for the children of indigent white families. African Americans, free and enslaved, were excluded…

As a young man Anthony Rosenstock (1833–1906) left his home in what is now Germany and sailed from Hamburg to New York City, arriving in November 1853. When he landed, he had three cents and a letter of introduction to a distant relation. He…